Omaha daily bee., 1887-11-21
AWFUL EVILS OF GAMBLING,
Rev. g. w. Savidge Speaks on the
Subject.
WARNING TO CHRISTIANS.
The Church Game OF Chance Con.
demncd and the Fish Pond
Scheme and Prize Cake
Not Sanctioned.
A Sermon on Gambling.

A Sermon on Gambling.
AT the Seward street M. Il. church last
evening Rev. G. w. Savidgc, the pastor,
preached to u large audience on the subject,
Gambling" taking his text from Matthew
27;35: "Thcy parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast
lots" Gambling, said the speaker is risk
ing some thing with the expectation of win
ming more than you hazard 1t is getting
something without ever having rendered an
equivalent. Oftimcs it comes very near
being the getting Of something for nothing.
The instruments of the art are well known
the cards, the cue and balls, the dice and
various other implements. Gambling Is
carried on in rooms kept and often built cs-
peciall for that purpose. The house Of tho
lost woman and the gambling house have
the most elegant furniture, though 1
am very glad to say that in this city the pub
lie gambling houses have been closed in con-
sequence of Il prohbitory law against gam
bling enacted last winter by the legislature
of Nebraska. This law makes gambling
crime to which q heavy penalty is affixed.
This law went into effect the 4th of last July,
and whatever gambling is done now in this
city is done secretly. l am glad to hear too,
that Mayor Roche, Of Chicago, has walked
into that Office and has driven every gambler
out of the city and has reformed the saloons
Just as far as the laws of his state will per-
NIT to do it. A first rate mayor and first
rate Judge can reform city, even If the city
council is not sanctited But am sorry to
say that we, as people, do not stop gambling
when the rooms hitherto used for that pur-
pose are shut up
If our people can't gamble one way, they
| will another. The men who go to see the
great leagues play ball bet on one side or the
| other. If the gambling element were taken
| out OF the American game to-day, it would
amount to nothing. Men go to horse races
| for the same purpose l am told that Hiram
| Woodruff was an honest and humane man,
but the horses he trained caused many q
dollar to change hands. On the great tracks
| to-day fortunes are made and lost, and as the
| telegraph has nearly eliminated time and
| space, men in Omaha bet on the base ball
in Boston or the horse race at Leng Branch.
Lotteries, too, are all the rage at present.
We are told that q few years ago man in
| Chicago found an Improbable building on
| his hands and he resolved to make all this
country help him out Of the difficulty. Lot
| terry offices were opened in all the great
cities. Philadelphia bought over $4,000
| worth of tickets, New York took 100000
worth. AS the time for the drawing ap
preached the trains were loaded to their
fullest capacity. The man who held the
| so-called fortunate man soon died of drunk
| enness and the house which had been rafled
| away was soon back in the hands OF the
original owner. This lottery business has
become q curse. Last Monday prominent
man living at Orleans, Neb., in the Repub-
lican Valley, received word that the ticket he
held in certain lottery entitled him to $l5, 600
The result will be that hundreds of poor men
who cannot afford it, will buy tickets and
| they will never get cent for their trouble.
| Mon also gambia in the grain markets.
They call it "buying options" Men gamble
in churches. You pay cents for the privilege
| of fishing with hook and line in the fish pond.
You pay IS cents for chance for the cake
with the fve-dOllar gold piece or the ring in
| it, and the principle is the same as if you
| bought ticket in the Louisiana lottery. One
evening one of the daughters Of General
Sherman was trying to induce him to take
and the general replied, "Why, Rachel, we
have gotten along all our lives thus far with
| out gambling, do you think we had better
begin nowl" Let General Sherman's words
be told to the christians who play progressive
| euchre.
Boys as rule are not allowed in gambling
houses-that is to say, this is the rule--but
am sorry to say it is often broken. Men OF
all classes gamble-both rich and poor. !
have known preachers sons to be infatuated
| with the game. A few years ago one Of my
own church members drew horse in lot
| terry and he worked that horse for many a
day. We are often told that gamblers are
very honest men, reliable, men Of their word,
| and that they are liberal. 1t is to their in
terest to be so considered. But they are lib
| eral with other mems money, and are honest
when they have that money, but when their
"luck turns" they will rob you quick enough.
| If / am called to officiate at the funeral of a
gambler l shall not call him a fine fellow.
He is robbcr, for he takes what he never
| earned.
If you ask me why men gamble, would
say they do so for various reasons. The
| church member in social company plays
progressive euchre" for pleasure and to get
the gift or stake that is offered.
Some men gamble for the pleasure and fas-
cinaton there is in it. Life" you know, ''is
such u hum m-drum affair." that they have to
| have something interesting. But the great
majority play because there is possibility OF
making large sums of money quickly and
with very little capital. What force there
is in that thought to the mass OF men, Large
sums, quickly made and with little capital "
| Men ask, SIS gambling wrong, and Why!'
Without question it is wrong. 1t Is death to
honest toll. Look at the gamblers hands !!
They are as white and soft as u woman's.
men in this town who were gamblers before
July 4, 1887, are now engaged in honest le-
gitimate work.
Men lose their money by means Of gaming.
At one time in Italy $l4,0OO,0O0 We're an
nually expended by the poorer population in
lottery tickets. The most of this money, OF
course, was lost Men not only lose their
own money in this way, but that of their
employers, and even trust funds, When q
celebrated bank in this country failed, it was
found that tho officers had expended the en-
bezzled funds in lotteries, and of course, lost.
| A Boston clerk took SlS, 900 of his employers
money and spent it in this way. The money
lost in gambling in our city would build
many cozy and beautiful cottage and fur
| nish it, too.
This gambling is destroyer of human life
| After lottery in England there were fifty
| suicides of those 1yho had held unluckv num-